March 28, 2013
CNN
Jethro Mullen
Riots broke out in central Myanmar on Wednesday, authorities said, as
police struggled to stop groups of Buddhists from setting fire to
mosques and Muslims' homes.
The violence comes after a state of emergency was declared last week in
the area where clashes between the two communities first broke out,
leaving at least 40 people dead.
In Natalin township, rioters destroyed eight houses, 12 shops and one mosque, police said.
In nearby Zigon township, 40 houses and one mosque were destroyed, they said.
Police said they fired rubber bullets at rioters there. Some people were injured and admitted the hospital.
The riots prompted new restrictions.
Officials put dusk-to-dawn curfews in place in Natalin and Zigon,
state-run TV reported late Wednesday, raising the total number of
townships where a curfew is now imposed to nine.
Officials on Tuesday put curfews in place in the townships of
Gyobingauk, Okpo and Minhla, the New Light of Myanmar, a state-run
newspaper, said.
Police had reported arson attacks on Muslim properties in those three townships in recent days.
U.S. authorities have issued a warning to U.S. citizens in Myanmar amid the unrest that began last week in the city of Meiktila, in the central Mandalay region, and spread to other towns.
The situation has fueled fears in the commercial capital, Yangon,
prompting stores to close in a popular shopping district Monday.
The U.S. Embassy told U.S. citizens to avoid the Mingalar Market and
Yuzana Plaza part of Yangon, the same area where the stores were
shuttered.
A state of emergency
During the clashes in Meiktila, which were reportedly set off by a
dispute between a Muslim gold shop owner and two Buddhist sellers,
rioters set fire to houses, schools and mosques, prompting thousands of
residents to flee their homes.
The government declared a state of emergency in the city Friday,
allowing the military to help reinstate order. But as the situation
there appeared to calm, authorities reported arson attacks by groups of
Buddhists in other towns in the region over the weekend.
The unrest highlights the fragility of ethnic relations in Myanmar, also
known as Burma, as it emerges from decades of military repression.
Authorities have released thousands of political prisoners and pursued
peace talks with rebel groups in the past two years.
President Thein Sein, who has overseen the country's initial moves
toward democracy, vowed Monday "to take action against those who led the
violence and got involved in it and to expose those who flamed the
conflict under the pretext of religion," the New Light of Myanmar
reported.
The U.N. humanitarian agency says that the Myanmar government estimates
that more than 12,000 people have been displaced by the unrest.
"They're barricaded in schools and in a monastery," said Ashok Nigam,
the U.N. resident coordinator in Myanmar. "They're currently receiving
humanitarian assistance provided by the government."
A Buddhist monk was reported to be among those killed when the violence
initially erupted in Meiktila last week. But Win Htein, an opposition
lawmaker for the area, has said that he believes the majority of the
victims were Muslims.
"Most of the Muslims' houses were destroyed and burnt down," he said Tuesday. "Very few are left."
Authorities have found dozens of bodies amid the wreckage left by the riots.
Police confiscated weapons such as swords and machetes from groups of
Buddhists -- some of them monks -- who were roaming the streets last
week, officials said.
Win Htein said Tuesday that the situation was improving in Meiktila, but
that he was concerned that some young Buddhists were "organizing their
own security" despite government warnings not to carry weapons.
Growing insecurity
Unsubstantiated rumors of unrest in other parts of the country such as
Yangon are spreading via text messages and social media, stoking fears
among residents.
"People are feeling totally insecure, totally not safe," said Aye Chan Naing,
the founder of Democratic Voice of Burma, an independent news website
based in Chiang Mai, Thailand, less than 200 kilometers from the border
with Myanmar.
In one example, Si Thu, a Buddhist employee of the United Nations who
lives in a mainly Muslim neighborhood of Yangon, said Tuesday he was
moving his family to stay at a relative's home elsewhere in the city.
"I can't think of any political or religious aspects now," he said. "I only know about how to protect my family."
The New Light of Myanmar suggested that such rumors are being
"circulated by those with ill will who want to harm peace and
stability."
The clashes in Meiktila and elsewhere have drawn expressions of concern from U.N. and U.S. officials.
The sudden boiling over of tensions between Buddhists and Muslims in
central Myanmar follows sectarian troubles that killed scores of people
in the west of the country last year.
Those clashes, in Rakhine state, took place between the Buddhist majority and the Rohingya, a stateless ethnic Muslim group.
Most of the victims in that unrest were Rohingya. Tens of thousands more
were left living in makeshift camps, and many of them have since joined
those who attempt each year to flee to Thailand and Malaysia in flimsy
boats.
CNN's Kocha Olarn, Dana Ford and Elizabeth Joseph contributed to this report. Journalist Pho Wai Lin also contributed.
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